Professor claims Sandy Hook massacre 'may not have happened'

A US university professor has received widespread condemnation after claiming that the Sandy Hook massacre may have been staged – or may have not occurred at all.

James Tracy, an Associate Professor of Media History, made the sensational claims on his blog memoryholeblog.com, suggesting the Obama government may have used the tragedy as a platform to influence the national debate on gun laws.

In a post called ‘The Sandy Hook Massacre: Unanswered questions and missing information’, Tracy claims that there are numerous ‘inconsistencies and anomalies’ in the reporting of the infamous school shooting.

“While it sounds like an outrageous claim, one is left to inquire whether the Sandy Hook shooting ever took place – at least in the way law enforcement authorities and the nation’s news media have described,” he wrote.

No stranger to conspiracy theories, having also raised questions over the assassination of JFK and 9/11, Tracy uses the same analytical mindset to dissect what he believes to be key ‘inconsistencies’ in the case.

Over a series of posts, the university professor raises reservations over why family members of victims were ‘almost wholly absent from public scrutiny’, how the gunman was able to fire so many shots in so little time, why medical personnel were ‘turned away’ and why there were no photos of a mass evacuation of the school.

The academic also suggests that trained “crisis actors under the direction of state and federal authorities” may have been used to “realistically drive home the event’s tragic features.”

However, Tracy stops short of claiming the mass shooting was an elaborate stunt, instead raising questions rather than conclusions.

“Although some may see [my theories] as beyond the pale. I am doing what we should all be doing as academics … Overall, I’m saying the public needs more information to assess what took place.”

The university which employs him has distanced itself from the comments.

“I want to make it clear that those views and opinions are not shared by Florida Atlantic University, and I am personally saddened by any media stories that have added to the pain felt by the victims’ families,” FAU President Mary Jane Saunders said in a statement obtained by FoxNews.com.

Responses to his blog posts are seemingly sympathetic with some praising him for his boldness in raising questions over the case.

In the wider community however, Tracy has been slammed with one former teacher saying he should be ashamed for choosing the event ‘as a stage for his outlandish conspiracy theories'.

Twenty children and six adults were killed in the Sandy Hook shooting by 20-year-old gunman, Adam Lanza, on December 14, 2012.